6 Ways Big Businesses Apologize

Steve Cooper
, ContributorI share my love for business through my business about love.Opinions expressed by Forbes Contributors are their own.

News Corp. apologizes with a full-page advertisement in the form of a letter signed by Chairman and CEO Rupert Murdoch appearing in the Guardian, London, UK. (Photo credit: gruntzooki)

The apologies this week from NFL Commissioner, Roger Goodell, and Apple CEO, Tim Cook, are just two of many recent apologies from big businesses in America. What is interesting, however, is the manner in which these two companies (and many others) have delivered their apologies. Here's a look at six ways companies have apologized for their fumbles.

NFL: Roger Goodell, Commissioner

Delivery Method: E-mail to fans

Apology: A labor dispute between the National Football League and the NFL Referees Association resulted in replacement officials calling games throughout the first three weeks of the 2012 NFL season. Numerous blown calls, including an extremely controversial last play of a nationally televised Monday Night Football game giving the Seattle Seahawks the win over the Green Bay Packers generated fan rage in the form of over one million tweets. Four days later, Commissioner Goodell sent an e-mail apology announcing the end to the labor dispute and regret for the product fans had to endure. "I believe in accountability, not excuses. And I regret we were not able to secure an agreement sooner in the process and avoid the unfortunate distractions to the game. You deserve better."

Apple: Tim Cook, CEO

Delivery Method: Posted an apology letter on the website homepage

Apology: With the launch of the iPhone 5, Apple also released iOS 6, the operating system for iPhones and iPads. This release removed the native Google Maps app that had been a part of iOS since the beginning and replaced it with Apple's homegrown mapping solution. Users immediately began noticing that significant details were missing, major landmarks were mislabeled and "flyover" images were greatly distorted in many instances. News outlets and social media jumped all over the misstep and in one instance a Tumblr blog, The Amazing iOS 6 Maps, began highlighting the errors. In response, CEO Cook posted a letter on Apple's homepage for all to see. "With the launch of our new Maps last week, we fell short on this commitment. We are extremely sorry for the frustration this has caused our customers and we are doing everything we can to make Maps better." Within the apology Cook also highlights other alternatives for customers to try, including a reference to the recently dropped company, Google.

JetBlue: Rob Maruster, COO

Delivery Method: YouTube

Apology: In October of 2011 a storm forced several flights to divert to Hartford's Bradley International Airport. The passengers did not deplane and in one instance passengers were stranded for more than seven hours. While there were no safety concerns, those stuck on the plane weren't happy. COO Maruster took to the largest video platform on the web. In a one minute eighteen second video Maruster says, "At JetBlue you count on us for a lot more and we promise a lot more, and we know we let some of you down over the course of this weekend; and for that we are truly sorry."

Facebook: Mark Zuckerberg, Founder

Delivery Method: Corporate blog

Apology: In late 2007, Facebook released a new feature called Beacon. This feature shared a user's activities from around the web with their friends on their Facebook timeline. Not surprisingly, many Facebook users were not happy to have such an invasion of privacy on display for their social world to see. After about a month of complaints, Zuckerberg posted "Thoughts on Beacon" on the company's blog, saying, "We've made a lot of mistakes building this feature, but we've made even more with how we've handled them. We simply did a bad job with this release, and I apologize for it." In 2009 as part of a settlement over privacy complaints, Facebook shuttered Beacon.

News Corp: Rupert Murdoch, Chairman and CEO

Delivery Method: Newspaper advertisements

Apology: In the summer of 2011 it was revealed that several publications under the News Corp. umbrella had been involved in the hacking of cell phones from celebrities and politicians to members of the British Royal Family and news sources. Inquiries, criminal charges, resignations and the folding of News of the World ensued. In response, a full-page advertisement in many newspapers was taken out in the form of a letter and signed by Murdoch. The letter read, in part, "The News of the World was in the business of holding others to account. It failed when it came to itself. We are sorry for the serious wrongdoing that occurred."

Goldman Sachs: Lloyd C. Blankfein,CEO

Delivery Method: Conference

Apology: Goldman Sachs has been identified as an integral cog in the economic collapse resulting in the Great Recession. In 2011, Congress finished a two-year inquiry and found that Goldman Sachs had misled clients who bought complex securities known as collateralized debt obligations. At a 2009 conference Blankfein told attendants, "We participated in things that were clearly wrong and we have reasons to regret and apologize for." In August 2012, the U.S. Justice department issued a statement saying it would not pursue criminal charges against Goldman Sachs or its employees related to accusations that the firm bet against the same subprime mortgage securities it was selling to clients because they could not meet criminal burden of proof.